Subject Jenova A
by Otorisosa-kan
Summary: Sephiroth couldn't exactly describe his feelings for the girl in his arms. "Mine," he snarled at Hojo "She's mine."
1. Chapter 1

**I'M BACK, B*TCHES! Miss me :D?**

* * *

When Sephiroth entered his bedroom after a long tiring day of training, experimenting and paperwork, he tried to force back a groan. It was a failed attempt as he rolled his eyes and closed the door. Sitting on the bed was a young girl, nude and huddled up with her knees to her chest. She turned her head at the sound of the door closing and began shivering as she turned away. Sephiroth pinched his nose. This had been going on for six months now. Hojo had been getting him to have sexual intercourse with all sorts of people. From middle-aged women to young men, Sephiroth had given up his sperm to people for Hojo to monitor and study. None of them had become pregnant, but Hojo still persisted in getting Sephiroth children so they could extend this project that was based around him. This whole thing had started after Sephiroth had turned sixteen.

Shaking his head and walking over, he shed his coat and hung it up on the coat peg by the mirror. He glowered at his own reflection and glowered to what was behind it. He knew it was a one-way window for Hojo and his assistants to study his sexual behaviour and he hated it. It was an invasion of the little privacy that he had. He had to move to this bedroom at Hojo's demand, just so they could study him further now that he was putting his sex organs to use.

Turning to the girl, he pulled his pauldrons off and cast them onto the floor. He sat next to her in just his trousers and she scooted away from him. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. He hadn't had a reaction like that before. Usually the person would have jumped on him and rip the rest of his garments off. He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. She flinched at the contact and Sephiroth grasped her shoulder tightly. Her skin was firmer than any skin he had felt before in his life and she was as cold as liquid nitrogen. This wasn't a person who was here because he or she was paid or they wanted to be here for their love of science. And Sephiroth could tell that she was not shivering because she was cold, she was shivering because she was afraid.

"How old are you?" he asked.

The girl flinched and she turned, her shivers becoming slightly more violent.

"I…think I'm…this…I…"

Sephiroth waited patiently for her reply while he looked at her more closely. She had long thick, brown hair that covered her back completely and her skin was as pale as snow. He couldn't see her face yet as she stumbled for words.

"…They told me that…I was…twelve today. Y-Yesterday I-I-I was eleven…"

Sephiroth's eyes widened as disgust curled up in his stomach and he glared at the mirror. This girl was the youngest that they had ever sent him. It had always been people who were older than him, not younger. His arm slid around her shoulders and she curled herself tighter as he brought her close to his bare chest.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"N-Name?"

She looked away.

"Uh…well…I'm called Subject J-Jenova A…"

Sephiroth's interest was caught at the mention of his mother's name.

"A-And…I…I'm the only one wh-who's alive n-now. A-All of the…others d-died…"

So there were others who were named 'Subject Jenova'. Sephiroth tilted his head and grabbed her chin. Subject Jenova A flinched as he turned her face towards him. He brushed her large fringe over her eyes to reveal bright red eyes, sharp and piercing as if they were staring straight through him. Her face, apart from that, seemed perfectly normal.

"So you were born and raised in the labs as well?" he asked.

"Taken."

Sephiroth was taken aback as the girl spoke. A long cylindrical dark red forked tongue flickered out when she spoke.

"Taken from m-my family," she said "At the t-tender age of two years."

Sephiroth's eyes snapped back to hers after he watched her tongue while she spoke.

"They gave that to you I presume?" he asked as he pointed to it.

"Yes."

Subject Jenova A covered her mouth after her tongue retreated back into it. Sephiroth's hand dropped to her waist and she let out a shriek.

"_No!_"

Sephiroth watched as she jumped back to the centre of the bed, her tongue flickering in and out frantically.

"I'm not ready for intercourse!" she shouted "I don't want this, please! I'm not ready!"

Sephiroth didn't really want to go through with the intercourse himself. He grabbed her arms, much to her displeasure and pinned her down, settling his legs on hers. His eyes widened at her developing body. Her breasts were just starting to show but her nipples were white like snow. She was very thin; she can't have been fed very much during her time in the labs. And dark blue spots were dotted around her thighs which made Sephiroth more curious about her. Sephiroth brushed his hand along them intriguingly, feeling how they were warmer than any part of her body. He retracted his hand as Subject Jenova A made a sound in between a giggle and a shout while kicking impulsively. He gently parted her thighs to take a look at her womanhood.

It was normal like what he had seen with past experiences with other women. But something did not feel right. Subject Jenova A's body was still trembling as she stopped her shouting, indicating that she had finally calmed down a bit more. Sephiroth's eyes narrowed as he gently parted her undeveloped folds to examine her further. Tilting her so he could see in the light, he withdrew his face abruptly when he saw blue skin inside her.

"They've been inside your body?" he said.

"N-No…"

Sephiroth released her and sat up, letting her curl up into a tight ball.

"They opened me up one time," she said, her tongue flickering out and licking her own tears away "They pulled out stuff from me then put other things back in. It was horrible…"

Sephiroth suddenly felt a tug in his heart. His head began to think different things. Should he just go through with the intercourse? No, it didn't feel right to just take her now. What did feel right then? Sephiroth continued staring at her before gathering her up in his arms. She let out a squeak as he pulled the covers over them and covered her mouth. Her eyes were the only source of light as Sephiroth embraced her tenderly.

"Go to sleep."

Subject Jenova A looked up at him confused and he tucked her head under his chin. Sephiroth was used to temperatures like her body temperature, so he didn't mind sharing his body heat with her. He rubbed his hands up and down her back soothingly, kissing her temple because it felt right. Eventually, her eyes closed themselves and she hugged him tightly, as if she never wanted to let go. Sephiroth felt like he didn't want her to let go. Something told him that he had to protect her. Something told him that he wanted to keep her. Closing his eyes, he eventually dropped off to sleep.

* * *

That morning Sephiroth's eyes flew open once he felt hands trying to pry away Subject Jenova A away from his arms. He lashed out, causing the scientists around them to jump back. His hand grabbed the nearest scientist's neck and he glowered at the crowd around the bed and while holding the young girl closer to him.

"Mine," he snarled.

"Excuse me, Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth's eyes turned to the speaker and he glared at Hojo who was standing at the foot of the bed. He couldn't describe this sudden possessiveness over the sleeping girl in his arms. He just felt that it was right and that her company was what he wanted. Releasing the scientist in his grasp, Sephiroth used both arms to hold the girl close to him.

"She is mine."


	2. Chapter 2

Sephiroth entered his bedroom and sighed in relief that it was finally the end of the day.

"Hi, Sephiroth."

Sephiroth opened his eyes and caught the young teenage girl in his arms as she hugged him.

"Hi, Anne," he responded her greeting.

After he convinced Hojo that he could keep Subject Jenova A with him, Sephiroth had looked up names that began with A. It was hard when he went onto a computer and came up with a list of names. Subject Jenova A didn't know how to read so he read them out loud for her. But with every name she just nodded, not really understanding what names were supposed to be for. Sephiroth was not comfortable with calling her 'Subject Jenova A' because, one, it was too long and two, it just didn't feel right to call her his mother's name. It took them around about half an hour to decide what kind of name to give her…

**Four years ago…**

"How about Alice?" Sephiroth suggested as Subject Jenova A wore his shirt which was far too large for her.

He turned to look at her and she just nodded.

"Alice…"

He looked at her with a frown. …Nope, it didn't seem to fit.

"I don't think it suits you," he said.

Subject Jenova A tilted her head.

"Alice."

Sephiroth was starting to get used with the tongue but it was still unexpected. Subject Jenova A frowned.

"I like it."

"It doesn't suit you," Sephiroth said then pointed to the mirror "Say it at yourself."

Subject Jenova A turned to the mirror obediently.

"Alice."

She yelped and jumped backwards, onto the bed. Sephiroth stood up and walked over.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Subject Jenova A covered her mouth.

"I didn't know my t-tongue was that hideous," she murmured.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"You have never seen your tongue before?" he asked.

Subject Jenova A shook her head.

"I found out that I had it…I don't know when but I never saw myself in the mirror."

Sephiroth gently got her back to her feet so they were in front of the mirror. He ignored the fact that it was a one way window and focused on Subject Jenova A's reflection. He placed both of his hands on her shoulders and stood behind her.

"Say it again," he instructed.

"Al-Alice…"

Subject Jenova A flinched and looked away, covering her mouth.

"You're right, it doesn't suit me," she said quickly.

Sephiroth sighed and let her go, not really knowing how to get her over her fear of her own tongue. …Best leave that for another day, Sephiroth didn't have much time left until he had to go for a training session. He went in front of his computer and looked down the list more.

"Arianna?" he suggested.

"Arianna?" Subject Jenova A mimicked "I don't like it."

"Abigail?"

Sephiroth turned and looked at her.

"Abigail…it doesn't suit you either," he concluded and turned to the computer monitor.

"Why do all the names I like not suit me?" Subject Jenova A asked curiously.

"We will find one that does, don't worry," Sephiroth assured her "Amelia?"

"I don't like that."

Sephiroth read name after name and it was usually the same. He would think it would suit her but she wouldn't like it. Then when he didn't think it suit her, she liked it. It became very frustrating and eventually they only have five minutes left until Sephiroth had to go.

"What about Amber?"

"You've said that one before," Subject Jenova A hissed in irritation.

"…Well which ones did you like before?"

"I like, Abigail, Alice, Arielle, Annabelle, Annalisa, Anastasia…"

"Anne?"

Subject Jenova A perked up.

"I liked that one too," she said.

"I never said it," Sephiroth said with a raised eyebrow "but it's a shortened version of the last three names you said."

Subject Jenova A smiled.

"Anne," she said "Is that my name now?"

"Yes it is," Sephiroth said and glanced at the time "And I am going to be late."

He got up and froze. What was he supposed to do with her now? She can't come with him for training and he certainly can't leave her here where Hojo can grab her.

"What usually happens in your daily life?" he asked her as he grabbed his coat and put it on.

"I have a drip to give me my food and water whenever the scientists go out to eat," Anne began to list her habits "If I'm not having my daily health check or having something done to me, I usually drew on my cell walls…"

"Can you not eat normal food?" Sephiroth asked with a frown.

"It comes back up."

Sephiroth growled in frustration. She was made to be dependent on the science labs.

"…I'm afraid the best solution would be to take you back to the labs during my work hours," he said.

Anne blinked at him unfazed.

"OK," she said swinging her hands behind her back.

Sephiroth was taken aback. He hated the labs but she didn't seem to mind at all!

"Does it not bother you?" he asked.

Anne frowned.

"Bother?" she asked tilting her head to the side.

"Are you not…never mind, I'm late."

Sephiroth grabbed her by the wrist and led her out of the bedroom.

**Back to the present…**

Sephiroth ruffled Anne's hair softly.

"How was your day?" he asked.

"Tiring," she responded "There was a mix-up of my food and I nearly fell ill."

"Really now?" Sephiroth's brow twitched in annoyance.

Damn lab assistants, he never liked them due to their clumsiness and their unawareness of what to do.

"It wasn't that serious," Anne placed a hand on his chest.

Sephiroth placed a hand over hers and sat down on the bed with her. He looked into her eyes as she began to talk about something to do with her favourite dress. He felt strange around her. His heart would quicken its pace by just the mere thought of her. The hours would seem terribly long if he was longing to see her at the end of the day. It was foreign to Sephiroth.

"So I decided to give it a green touch to it with the pens you gave to me."

Sephiroth's reverie was broken as she pulled her hand away and ran up to the wardrobe. She pulled out the white dress he had given her for her fifteenth birthday. Neatly drawn thick lines zigzagged along the bottom and Sephiroth briefly remembered the issue about clothing for her.

**Four years ago…**

"So this is all you wear then?" Sephiroth asked as he lifted the turquoise gown that Anne had to wear to cover her nudity.

Anne nodded.

"It doesn't keep me very warm though," she murmured.

No way it didn't, it was big enough for drafts to go up the gown and make her cold.

"I'll find you more clothes to wear to keep you warm," Sephiroth decided "What kind of clothes would you like?"

"Kind?"

Anne frowned.

"Uh…" she murmured and looked down blankly "Anything that's white? I like white."

Oh that narrowed Sephiroth's search for clothes down alright! Sephiroth sighed.

"White and warm," he murmured "OK, I'll…find something."

Anne hugged him suddenly, catching him off guard. She leaned her ear against his chest and Sephiroth briefly checked the time.

"I'll be late."

"You're nice."

Sephiroth looked down and awkwardly put his arms around her to return the hug.

"I need to go," he said.

"When will you be back?" Anne asked as she looked up at him.

"Soon."

Sephiroth gently pushed her away and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"I'll come with clothes for you to try on," he told her.

Anne nodded as a lab assistant grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her off to have her morning drip injected into her. Sephiroth watched before marching out of the science labs before Hojo could spot him. As he walked over to the elevator, he couldn't help but feel like something had been taken away from him. Like a part of him was stolen away. He felt protective over Anne, but why? Why her and no-one else? Sephiroth shook his head to try and clear his head. Anne would prove to be a weakness now. But for some reason, Sephiroth didn't mind.

**Back to the present…**

"It looks nice," Sephiroth smiled softly.

Anne grinned and she leaned down to lick his cheek affectionately. It was a habit of hers to say thank you to him and Sephiroth got used to it after a while. Sephiroth yawned and stretched his limbs out.

"I have a present," he said.

Anne blinked and tilted her head questioningly. Sephiroth pulled out a box from his coat pocket and opened it to reveal a pearl necklace for her. Anne blinked again, even more confused.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's something to go around your neck," Sephiroth replied as he pulled it out and went behind her "It's to go with your dress."

When he clasped the necklace on he turned her to face the mirror. Anne lifted her hand to touch it in wonder.

"Which dress?" she asked.

"Any."

Anne held her customised dress against her and sighed.

"I don't think this one will do," she said honestly "The green doesn't suit with the…"

She gestured to the necklace. Sephiroth smiled. Anne was very creative. Sephiroth didn't know what inspired her but she loved to draw. She drew on anything if she had a pen or pencil. And when she was out of paper, she would draw on the walls like a little child would. Sephiroth suspected that white was her favourite colour because she loved to draw on her clothes too. Sephiroth yawned again and Anne smiled.

"I want to go to sleep," she said to the reflection, her tongue flickering out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

Her tongue did anything she wanted. Sephiroth didn't exactly have a tape measure but he estimated that tongue to be about fifty centimetres. It was long and it would always flicker out like a snake whenever she spoke. It also acted as a hand if Anne got hand cramps from drawing too much. Sephiroth shrugged his coat off and took the necklace off her.

"Get into your night clothes then," he said as he took the rest of his clothes off.

He opened the wardrobe and went to his side to get a pair of black pants that he usually wore when they slept. Sephiroth and Anne agreed that they were more comfortable to sleep in the same bed rather than in separate ones. It just felt right. They didn't feel awkward about anything at all when around each other. They didn't even feel awkward when they would both be naked when changing, though Anne was still jumpy about the fact she was supposed to have had sexual intercourse with him.

Anne slipped into a nightgown before diving under the covers. Another habit she had. She loved being under the covers for some reason. It was probably related to their first encounter but Sephiroth shrugged it off. He peeled back the covers and slid into the bed, grabbing Anne and hugging her. Anne hugged him back and snuggled herself into him. Sephiroth tucked her head underneath his chin and stared at the mirror after turning the light off. He closed his eyes eventually and fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Sephiroth's eyes flew open when he felt hands grab him. He sat up, about to attack whoever had woken him but found Anne clutching onto him, shaking him. She didn't look well, especially because her whole body was covered in a sheet of sweat. Her eyes were aflame and she was panting heavily.

"Sephiroth…" she breathed, her cheeks flushed.

Sephiroth pressed his hand to her forehead. Her temperature was higher than normal. He trailed his fingers to her neck. Pulse rate was significantly quicker…

"How are you feeling?" he asked, cupping her cheeks.

He froze when he felt things poking his trousers and a hand pressed itself to his crotch. He slowly looked down and saw that blue tentacles had come out of where the blue spots on her thighs were and some of them were pointing at her, now very and extremely, wet opening.

"I…I want to mate with you…" Anne murmured as she hugged him "I…"

Sephiroth grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her away.

"Anne, are you sure?" he asked.

"I'm very sure…"

Anne's tongue flickered out of her mouth and dragged itself up his cheek.

"Please…" she whimpered, nuzzling him softly.

Sephiroth bit his lip. He wanted to engage intercourse with her too but he didn't really want to do it if she was under Hojo's control or anything. It was possible for Hojo to have drugged her or done something to make her feel like this.

"Anne…"

His mouth was suddenly invaded with her tongue, curling around his own tongue and squeezing it to tell him to shut up. Anne's eyes sparked and she hugged him. Sephiroth gave into her and hugged her back, his hands trailing up her nightgown.

* * *

Hojo's glasses glinted as he watched the two people finally engage in sexual intercourse.

"Finally…" he muttered as he watched while taking notes on his clipboard "Excellent, the project will be able to progress…"

His mutterings began incomprehensible as moans of pleasure filled the observation room. Hojo paid no particular attention to the whole act in front of him as he continued to scribble down notes. Everything was going according to plan and it looked like that this project was going to be a success. Only one thing did however catch his attention and concern.

"Anne…I love you."

Hojo froze as he watched Sephiroth declare love to Subject Jenova A. The two of them stared into each other's eyes before sharing a passionate and loving kiss. How was this possible? Sephiroth was not meant to feel anything for Subject Jenova A, he wasn't supposed to feel any emotion at all apart from a bit on instinctual protection over her. How could this be?! His perfect experiment…unperfected!

"This is impossible!" he exclaimed as he continued to observe them.

Sephiroth wasn't supposed to know what love is. He wasn't supposed to feel any form of affection towards her. Hojo had only let them be together because he assumed that was the normal instincts for the project. …And with the hope that they'd engage in sexual intercourse eventually, which they are doing now. Hojo's glasses glinted as Sephiroth and Subject Jenova A climaxed.

* * *

Sephiroth curled around Anne lovingly, kissing her forehead softly while running his fingers through her hair. Anne smiled softly with a sigh and kissed his neck, rubbing circles on his chest with her hands. Sephiroth smiled back. This felt right. Sephiroth couldn't describe it, but it felt right to be with this woman, it was right that they'd just engaged in sexual intercourse and for some reason, Sephiroth felt that it'd be right if they did it again. His head was telling him that he wanted to engage sexual intercourse again because he'd been sexually deprived for four years. His gut told him that it was because she was different than the other partners and therefore better. His heart told him…

"Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth looked down at Anne as she rested her head on his chest. She bit her lip before staring up at him uncertainly.

"What is love?"

Sephiroth froze at the extremely awkward question. Anne loved asking awkward questions and he dealt with it fine enough. Love…was a different issue. Love was something that Sephiroth felt like he couldn't explain. He hadn't exactly experienced love before all of this but when he had uttered those three words, he hadn't been thinking straight. He'd only said them because it felt right.

"Love…love is…"

Sephiroth stuttered as he looked up at the ceiling. He should have really thought about this before saying that he loved her. He tangled his fingers in her hair and combed it absent-mindedly as he tried to think what love was.

"Love is hard to describe," he said after a while with a sigh "I just said it because I want to be with you always."

"…I love you too then."

Sephiroth looked down at her and she smiled.

"I want to always be with you," she said as she licked his nose affectionately.

This was so similar to one of Genesis's romance films, Sephiroth almost pushed her away. But remembering that it wasn't, Sephiroth hugged her tighter, resting his chin on the top of her head like usual. He closed his eyes and relished the feeling of holding her to his chest. At least she wasn't as cold as liquid nitrogen. When they first shared a night in a bed together, her skin stung him quite a bit because it was slightly colder than what he was used to.

"Um…"

Sephiroth glanced down to see Anne with her head bowed, her cheeks bright red again.

"I…I…"

She licked her lips and cheeks, her hands going down to his waist.

"Again?" Sephiroth asked with a raised eyebrow.

She nodded shyly and he smiled.

"Alright then."

Sephiroth kissed her softly as he moved on top of her.

* * *

There they go again. Hojo shrugged and turned away from the spectacle. The more they did it, the more chance that the project was going to be a success anyway. He wasn't going to interrupt them.

Hojo had suspected that Sephiroth wouldn't be able to impregnate a normal woman so he had a collection of Jenova clones just in case. Subject Jenova A was the first person to have the Jenova Operation on. She was just a mere infant when they started to work on her. They had taken cell samples from each of Jenova's organs and grew them so they could be placed into the subjects. Subject Jenova A's situation was slightly altered because she was just a small child so they put the organs in when they weren't fully developed yet. The other subjects were fully mature women, given fully mature organs. They didn't survive for more than three weeks. Hojo decided that it was because the mature organs weren't used to being in a human body, rather than being in a body like Jenova's.

Subject Jenova A grew under intensive care with the Jenova organs inside her. She matured with the organs and almost grew perfectly. She was unable to eat food so they injected the nutrients she needed into her instead. And of course, Hojo would always find the time and opportunity to experiment on her body like Sephiroth. Subject Jenova A's body altered itself on the outside just by pure nature of the organs. Hojo only found this mildly interesting, his main concern was whether she would bear Sephiroth's children or not. He would find out after this stage of the project. If she was unable to bear his children then she'd be exterminated. She'd be a complete waste of time and space if he let her live.

What would the birthing be like? Would she be able to hold more than two or three children naturally? Jenova had a womb so Hojo predicted that the children will be born like a normal woman would give birth to her children. But there was also the possibility of a different birth altogether. Will she give birth to foetuses? Will she lay eggs? Would they even exit from her vagina? There were so many possibilities to how the birthing would go along. But for now, Hojo wished to predict that she'll give birth to foetuses unless the scans say otherwise.

What would the children be like? Would they have Jenova organs like their mother and carry on their race? Would they be as strong as their father? Could they breed with one another and not suffer from any genetic diseases? Will they not be able to survive the birth and die? Well, if they do, their bodies could provide vital research for any future projects…

Another one of Hojo's concern was about her lifespan. How much longer would she be able to live? Her health status is fine, she isn't suffering from any problems whatsoever and she is still growing. Would she be able to outlive humans? Or would she have a shorter lifespan and die of natural causes? And then after death, what would happen then? Would the Lifestream accept her? Or would she be rejected because of the Jenova organs that she carries?

Subject Jenova A's lifespan was more of a concern now because of the fact Sephiroth had just proclaimed his love now. His now imperfect experiment would suffer dearly if she had a shorter lifespan than humans. Love made people weak and now that Sephiroth was weak, it'll affect his performance as SOLDIER and during his experiments. It would ruin the whole of Project S! It may even be the death of him and Hojo did not wish Sephiroth's cause of death to be over some other experiment. Hojo scribbled down one important note on his clipboard.

**Separate Subject Jenova A and Specimen S as soon as possible**


	4. Chapter 4

Sephiroth woke up with a snarl when he felt Anne being pulled out of his arms. Scientists surrounded them and he snatched Anne back from their grips and instincts told him to get out of there. He froze suddenly when he remembered the state of his nudity and rolled his eyes, gently placing Anne down and dealing with the scientists by knocking them out, using brutal force. He quickly grabbed his trousers as he heard shouts from outside the bedroom and jumped into them quickly before grabbing his coat and wrapping it around Anne. The door opened and Sephiroth sprinted past the scientists as they tried to make a grab for Anne. He powered through the science labs and crashed into the lift, hitting the floor where Zack's apartment was. The doors swung shut and Sephiroth breathed softly, leaning on one of the metal walls while cradling Anne in his arms.

Anne didn't seem to have been disturbed from the sudden drama. She slept on blissfully, her head on his shoulder. Sephiroth smiled softly and nuzzled her lovingly. Anne was such a heavy sleeper and he found it adorable. Her tongue flickered out of her mouth curiously and flicked his nose in her sleep and Sephiroth chuckled as the long red muscle retreated into her mouth. Sephiroth's attention was turned when the doors swung open and he sprinted over to Zack's apartment, rapidly knocking on the door. When there was no answer, he continuously knocked on the door.

"Alright, alright!" Zack's sleepy mumble was heard from inside the apartment "I'm coming, hold your Chocobos…"

Sephiroth immediately sprinted in Zack's apartment the moment the door cracked open, sending Zack flying backwards and into his sofa. He let out a startled yelp as he hurtled through the air and Sephiroth slammed the apartment door shut and headed for Zack's bedroom, slamming his wardrobe doors open. He set Anne down in the wardrobe and shook her awake.

"Anne," he whispered "Anne, wake up."

Anne yawned, her tongue flicking out and hitting Sephiroth's cheek as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Seph?" she mumbled, her tongue sagging and dangling out of her mouth.

"Listen, you're going to have to stay here for a while," he explained as she yawned again, swerving his head to avoid getting hit by her tongue "I have a friend here called Zack, he'll look after you."

"Why do I hath to sthay hereth?" Anne mumbled, her tongue not functioning properly with her speech.

"I sensed danger," Sephiroth could only explain the feelings that he had when he took off with Anne "Listen, I heard that you can have distilled water from the scientists and vitamin pills might be the same as being on a drip. I will tell Zack about this and he will keep you safe here, I assure you."

Anne pouted, her tongue sliding back into her mouth. Sephiroth ruffled her hair with a smile and kissed her forehead.

"I'll be back soon, I promise," he said as he took his coat back and wrapped it up in his arms to look like he was still carrying her.

Anne hunched her shoulders and nodded, sad that Sephiroth was leaving. Sephiroth smiled and stood up. Anne shyly closed the doors of the wardrobe as he turned and walked out of the bedroom to talk to Zack. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Zack had fallen asleep on the sofa and grabbed his shoulder to shake him.

"Zack!" he shouted and Zack snorted, stirring out of his sleep.

"Huh, what?" he yawned and blinked up blearily at Sephiroth "Oh hey, Seph."

Zack yawned again and Sephiroth sighed impatiently.

"Zack, pay attention!" he barked and Zack leapt to his feet with a salute.

"Sir!"

Sephiroth rolled his eyes and sighed again.

"I am leaving you a mission to protect a young woman in your apartment," he said and Zack frowned in confusion "I will explain later, all you need to do is keep her happy, providing lots of colouring pens and pencils and paper would be a good way to keep her occupied for a few hours. She can only have distilled water and I think she can eat vitamin pills, just teach her to swallow them."

"Ugh, question?"

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and remained silent to listen to Zack's question.

"Where is she now?"

"She is in your bedroom wardrobe, oh, and if you have any soft white clothes to keep her warm, give them to her."

"Do they have to be white?"

"It's just to please her."

Zack tilted his head then smiled slyly.

"Seph, is this your girlfriend or something?" he asked curiously.

Sephiroth hesitated and actually paused to think about it.

"In a way, I would say she is," he said and Zack laughed.

"At least you have someone to get laid with," he cackled.

"She's only sixteen and we've only had sexual intercourse once."

Zack choked and Sephiroth turned to the door.

"I need to get the Turks off the trail," he said and ran out "I'll be back!"

The door slammed shut and Zack looked at his bedroom. He went up and opened the wardrobe.

"Heya!"

Anne squeaked in surprise and hid behind the several garments of clothes, spying on him with her bright red eyes in the darkness.

"Who are you?!" she asked and Zack stepped back with hands up in the air.

"Well my name is Zack, may I know your name?"

Anne poked her head out and Zack smiled softly as she looked him up and down.

"Sephiroth told me that you will keep me safe," she said and Zack jumped back in alarm when her tongue came out and began poking his face curiously.

"Uh, y-yeah," Zack said and Anne jumped out of the wardrobe, looking up at him while poking his face experimentally with her tongue.

Zack looked away discretely when he noticed her state of nudity.

"I'll just look for some warm white clothes for you then?" he said and turned away to his chest of draws.

"Will they be soft?" Anne asked tilting her head to the side curiously.

"Yes, they should be soft anyway."

"Zack's a weird name," Anne giggled and Zack's eyebrow twitched.

"Isn't Sephiroth's name weird?" he asked and Anne shook her head "What's your name anyway?"

"Sephiroth calls me Anne," Anne replied as Zack handed over a large white shirt for her to put on.

She pulled it on and frowned when she noticed the buttons.

"I can't do up buttons," she said and Zack flinched inwardly.

"A-Alright, I'll do them up for you," he said as he turned and began doing up the buttons for her at a breakneck pace to avoid looking at her too much.

Anne giggled when his fingers brushed her cold skin and Zack yelped when he felt how cold she was. Anne swung her hands back and forth and nuzzled herself into the soft fabric.

"Could you come into the sitting room with me?" Zack waved her towards the sitting room and she followed with a small skip in her step.

"You're friendly," she stated and hugged him suddenly "I like you."

Zack froze and held a smile.

"Thanks," he said and reached his desk to pull out a pen and some paper "Uh, Sephiroth told me that a pen and a piece of paper would keep you happy."

He yelped when Anne's tongue shot out and grabbed the pen from his grip eagerly. She grabbed the paper and threw herself on the floor, drawing eagerly. Zack watched her scribble happily before going into the kitchen to get a bottle of distilled water out of the fridge. After pouring out a glass and going back into the sitting room, his eyes widened when he discovered her drawing on his walls and yelped.

"Hey, you're not supposed to do that!" he exclaimed and Anne turned to him curiously, blinking in confusion.

"Sephiroth lets me," she pouted and Zack glanced at the piece of paper, eyes widening when he saw that she had finished drawing a rough messy sketch of himself.

On the wall was a half drawn sketch of Sephiroth and Zack frowned.

"You certainly draw fast and you're good at it," he commented, handing her the glass of distilled water.

"I've been drawing since I was a little girl," Anne smiled widely and stuck her tongue into the glass.

Zack's eyes widened as a hole opened up from the tips of her forked tongue and she drank the water down that way. After finishing it, she turned and continued scribbling on his wall eagerly. A bit stunned, Zack sat on his sofa and watched silently.

"What are you?" he whispered in bewilderment.


	5. Chapter 5

Sephiroth paused as he saw Anne standing on the back of the sofa and drawing on the ceiling with her tongue by the time he got back. He raised an eyebrow at Zack who just watched. Rolling his eyes, he closed the door.

"I'm back."

Anne dropped her pen, jumped off the sofa and ran into his arms happily. Zack sprung back up onto his feet, watching as Sephiroth ruffled Anne's hair, embracing her softly.

"Seph," he cleared his throat.

"Zack is funny!" Anne chirruped "His name is weird and he gets scared so easily!"

"Really now?" Sephiroth smirked at Zack who shifted awkwardly on the spot.

"Seph, can I speak to you?"

Sephiroth looked up and tickled Anne's nose.

"How about you get some sleep in Zack's room?" he suggested.

"But I'm not sleepy," Anne pouted but yawned, her tongue rolling out and rubbing itself across his cheek.

Sephiroth let the tongue curl around his wrist and kissed it softly.

"Anne, your sleep was disturbed. You need some sleep."

He reached down the back of the shirt and stroked her spine. Anne relaxed into his arms immediately with a contented sigh. Zack followed Sephiroth to his bedroom as Anne was carried into the room and lain down on his bed. Anne curled up, her chest heaving as she slept. Sephiroth pushed Zack out of the bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him.

"What is it that you want to talk about?" Sephiroth asked.

"Uh, you might want to sit down because I have a few questions."

Sephiroth shrugged as he strode over to an armchair, settling in it. Zack took his place on the sofa.

"What is she?" he asked.

Sephiroth sighed tiredly, leaning back and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"She is one of Hojo's experiments," he explained "When I refused to bed her four years ago, I didn't let him take her back. We formed a bond and eventually, a few hours ago, we've engaged in sexual intercourse."

"Too much information," Zack muttered as he stared ahead rather blankly then shook his head "OK then, you said she was how old?"

"Sixteen. Hojo has had her since she was three years old."

"Oh, sort of like you then?"

"She claims that she still has memories of her real parents. So nothing like me."

Zack grimaced and leaned back, staring up at the ceiling.

"How long do I have to keep her here?"

"Until further notice. It's too dangerous for me to bring her back to our room and I frankly couldn't think of a more appropriate place."

"How about Angeal?"

"He would have said no."

"Genesis?"

"At this time of night?"

"Point taken. Cloud?"

"Who?"

"Oh yeah, you don't know him. Never mind."

Zack hunched his shoulders and stared in the direction of his bedroom. Sephiroth pulled out a bottle of pills.

"See if she can take these when she wakes," he said "How was she with distilled water?"

"Everything seemed normal if you discount the way she drank it," Zack shivered when he remembered the way she had stuck her tongue down the glass.

"How did she drink it?" Sephiroth suddenly looked intrigued.

"She drank through her tongue…"

Sephiroth hummed thoughtfully.

"That's…interesting."

"Seph, how do you live with her?" Zack asked jokingly with a chuckle.

"She's perfect, apart from her tendency to draw on something other than paper."

They shifted their gaze to Sephiroth's portrait on the wall then to the swirls and curls that decorated Zack's ceiling. Zack sighed.

"Yup, she just insisted in drawing just anywhere. Here."

He handed Sephiroth a small pile of papers. Sephiroth sifted through them, smiling warmly as he saw portraits of him, Zack, and peculiar landscapes. Sephiroth recognized some of them to be from the dreams Anne often described to him.

"That's all the paper I could find," Zack sighed tiredly.

"You're going to need a lot more," Sephiroth said and placed the papers on the coffee table "And you're going to clean up the drawings here."

"Aw, but Seph, it'll hurt her feelings!" Zack pouted.

"I know," Sephiroth sighed and shrugged "But supposing someone comes to ask you questions? This will be the evidence that she has been here."

Zack groaned and lay back.

"But that's such a nice drawing of you, you're smiling!"

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes.

"I can smile, you've seen me smile at least four times since I set foot in this apartment."

"But with that drawing, you're smiling permanently!"

"Zack, if I smiled permanently, my face would freeze into that position and I will not look like I'm ready to kill on the battlefield. And it will ruin my image. And the Silver Elite will swoon."

Zack groaned and rolled his eyes.

"But I don't want to clean it up!"

"Zack…"

"You won't make me ruin a piece of art like that!"

Sephiroth then smirked and got up.

"Alright."

Zack watched Sephiroth enter the bathroom and paled.

"No!" he howled and jumped to his feet to run after him "I won't let you!"

As the men argued in the bathroom, sloshing water all over the place, Anne remained curled up on the bed, undisturbed by the noise. She sighed contently in her sleep, uncurling her body and wriggling into the covers like a cat making itself comfortable. Her stomach grumbled and gurgled in her sleep, causing her face to scrunch in discomfort. The gurgles and grumbles grew louder but didn't go as loud as Zack's yell of 'Stop being such an art critic'. Anne gasped in her sleep and the noise from her stomach died down. Humming, Anne rolled onto her side, curling her knees into her chest. Her tongue flickered out to tuck some hair out of her face as underneath Zack's shirt her breasts swelled, her nipples pinching inwards. Anne's stomach grumbled once and she opened her eyes. Sitting up, she slipped off the bed and wandered out. She heard the boys arguing and followed the noises to the bathroom, watching a drenched Zack and a less soaking Sephiroth wrestle over a bucket.

"Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth let go of the bucket abruptly, making Zack yelp in surprise and stumble into his bathtub, making the bucket of water tip and soak Zack even more.

"Anne, did we wake you?" he asked as he approached her.

"I'm hungry," Anne mumbled shyly.

"Ah, here, I have something for you to try."

Anne was led into the kitchen where Sephiroth had placed the pills and blinked when he held it out to her.

"Try swallowing this."

Anne snatched it with her tongue and placed it down her throat. She swallowed and waited. She shrugged.

"It's not coming back up," she smiled "But I'm still hungry."

"Ah…"

"Sephiroth!"

"Just a minute," Sephiroth murmured, kissing her head and running into the bathroom to wrestle with Zack more.

Anne wandered around the kitchen, discovering the fridge and opening it curiously. She blinked at the different bottles, discovering a red one. She opened the cap curiously and stuck her tongue in it. It tasted sweet and tangy. When she swallowed, she waited for it to come back up. She hadn't tried this before, only solid foods which would normally come back up. When nothing came back up, she hummed and stuck her tongue into the bottle of ketchup, drinking it dry as the guys began soaking each other while arguing.


	6. Chapter 6

"Anne! I've made your favourite soup! Come out before I eat it for you!"

"No! Don't eat it! I'm coming!"

Anne sprinted out from Zack's bedroom and into the kitchen eagerly, her tongue licking her lips hungrily. Zack found out that only solid foods came back up when she ate them so he had to give her liquids instead along with the vitamin pills. So feeding her wasn't that much of a problem, except she had a bit of a fussy taste. She seemed to like anything that was tomato based, Zack had to buy a bottle of ketchup every day to keep her satisfied.

"Thank you for this food," Anne recited as Zack had trained her to do and stuck her tongue into the bowl of tomato soup.

Zack grimaced as he watched her drink. She had been here for a week and he was still trying to get used to her…quirks. Well, it wasn't every day that he had to look after someone who wasn't exactly human. He had been trying his best to teach Anne some manners at the table, considering she never had any parents to teach her when she was younger, using a spoon instead of her tongue is going to be today's lesson.

"Anne, could you stop for a moment please?"

Anne lifted her tongue from the soup and let it slide back into her mouth. She tilted her head to the side questioningly and Zack picked up the spoon he had set next to the bowl.

"Try using this instead of your tongue to eat your soup, it will last longer," he said.

Anne stared at it with a confused frown.

"How do I do that?" she asked.

"Watch me."

Zack held up his own spoon, dipped it into his soup and brought it to his lips, drinking from it.

"OK? Now you try."

He blinked as Anne took the spoon with her tongue, spooned some soup onto it and dropped the contents into her mouth. He shook his head as she swallowed it.

"No, use your hand," Zack waved his hand for her to understand.

Anne stared at his hand before waving her own and grasping the spoon with it. She shakily copied Zack's hold on his spoon and dipped it into the soup, raising it to her lips and drinking it.

"Good girl," Zack praised and Anne smiled happily "That wasn't so bad was it?"

"Zack?"

"Yup?"

"I have a hand cramp."

"Ah," Zack chuckled as Anne put her spoon down and rubbed her hand tenderly "I'm not surprised with all the drawing you've been doing today."

Anne had been busy drawing on his bedroom walls, where no-one would see it apart from her and himself. Zack didn't like the fact that he had to clean up any drawings she drew on the ceiling or on the walls, or even on the kitchen tiles, then have to scold her. Anne looked very hurt when she found out that she wasn't allowed to draw anywhere but brightened up quite a lot when he allowed her to draw on anything in his bedroom. At the moment, she was working on a very large portrait of him and it was looking mighty handsome. They perked at the same time when they heard the apartment door open and then close.

"I've managed to get them off my trail," Sephiroth sighed tiredly.

"Sephiroth!" Anne cried happily as she jumped out of her seat and rocketed out of the kitchen.

Sephiroth smiled wearily as she jumped into his open arms and embraced her tightly.

"Have you been a good girl?" he asked and she grinned.

"Yes!" she nodded and licked his cheek affectionately.

"Anne, are you going to finish your soup?" Zack called after her.

"Yes, I am!"

Anne pulled on Sephiroth's collar, making him carry her into the kitchen and set her down by the table. Anne grabbed the spoon with her hand and continued trying to eat her soup properly. Sephiroth smiled warmly as he sat down next to her.

"So I've managed to set Tseng's Turks on the wrong trail in tracking her down," Sephiroth said in a low tone to Zack "I heard that you might be going on a mission with Tseng soon so please be careful in not spilling anything."

"Don't worry about it, your little secret is safe with me, Seph," Zack grinned confidently "No-one will find out where your little Anne is."

"Zack, do you recall the last time you said that one of my secrets was safe with you?" Sephiroth raised an unimpressed eyebrow and Zack chuckled uneasily.

"Well this one's a bit more serious isn't it?" the brunette shrugged "But don't you worry. I've grown rather attached to this kid, despite her quirks."

"Attached?"

Zack swallowed nervously when Sephiroth's aura darkened.

"Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth turned his head towards Anne and she leaned up to kiss him.

"Hey, hey, keep that stuff in the bedroom," Zack teased with a wink as Sephiroth seemed to be caught off guard but returned the kiss nonetheless "But not in my bedroom, mind you."

Sephiroth blinked as Anne pulled away and smacked his lips thoughtfully.

"Interesting," he commented.

"What?" Zack tilted his head as Anne continued eating her soup with her spoon.

"It appears that her tongue can function like an elephant's trunk," Sephiroth explained "She managed to share some of her soup with me by storing some in her tongue then releasing it into my mouth. Although, I think you've put too much salt in the soup, Zack."

"Have not! Anne loves this soup so it doesn't have too much salt in it!" Zack interjected "You just don't have any taste in the culinary arts."

"Or you just can't cook properly."

"Hey! I was taught by the best!"

"Yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you'll do as well as your teacher."

"I can so totally top Angeal in any cooking competition!"

The men began arguing again, Anne wincing and holding her stomach when it rumbled softly.


	7. Chapter 7

"I'm back!" Zack called as he came into the apartment with Aerith.

"Zack, you're back!" Anne cried as she ran out of the bedroom to greet him.

She yelped when she saw Aerith and dove behind the sofa, staring at Aerith suspiciously from the top of it with narrowed eyes. Zack gave a reassuring smile.

"This is Aerith, Anne," he said while gesturing to the flower girl "Aerith, this is Anne."

Aerith smiled kindly to the teenager.

"Nice to meet you," she said.

Anne hissed warily.

"Aerith is a funny name," she grumbled.

Zack chuckled.

"She's not too keen in meeting strangers," he explained and Aerith giggled.

"I'm not a stranger, Anne," she said as she slowly advanced to her "I'm Zack's friend."

Anne still hissed and stared at her warily, crawling away from Aerith when she came closer.

"Aerith, you need to let her come to you to gain her trust," Zack took Aerith's hand and led her away "Aerith's going to make us lunch today, Anne."

Anne hissed in displeasure and Zack grinned nervously as they went into the kitchen.

"She'll get used to you, don't worry," he said as they unpacked their shopping bags "Hopefully your stew will gain you brownie points."

"I think she looks cute," Aerith commented and looked over her shoulder "And a bit quirky."

Zack turned his head to see Anne watching them from the doorway, her tongue waving in the air as if to try and taste Aerith's scent.

"You'll get used to her eventually, don't worry," he whispered.

"Oh, I almost forgot."

When Aerith turned around fully, Anne scarpered back behind the sofa, hissing warily when Aerith came out with something.

"Anne, I heard that you like soft white clothes," she smiled kindly.

Anne went silent, staring at her with suspicious red eyes when Aerith unfolded her dress.

"I thought you might want to wear my spare dress," she held up a white dress with blue ribbons, similar to the one she was wearing now "I'll just leave it here so you can look at it."

She placed it on Zack's armchair and walked back into the kitchen. Anne stared at it thoughtfully, as if it might explode or turn into a monster or something. She slowly crawled over the sofa, crawled across the living room and sat herself in front of the dress. She hissed in disappointment when she realised that it wasn't completely pure white. She carefully began feeling the rim of the skirt and rubbed it against her cheek when she thought that it was soft enough to wear. She turned her head suddenly and Zack and Aerith ducked out of view from their watching places by the kitchen door. Hissing questioningly, Anne shrugged and began taking off Zack's shirt, throwing it onto the sofa and stood up. She carefully picked the dress up and slipped it on her, hissing happily when it fit her. Aerith smiled from her place and left her to examine the dress further.

"I'm glad she likes it," she said as Zack chopped up the vegetables.

"Does she have it on?" Zack asked while she got down the saucepans to fill with water.

"Yes, it suits her," Aerith smiled as she turned around to go to the sink.

She jumped slightly when she saw Anne right in front of her, looking up at her with scrutinizing glowing red eyes.

"You're different to Zack and Sephiroth and everyone else," she commented.

"Am I?" Aerith tilted her head.

"The first thing is that you have breasts like me," Anne said and pulled Aerith's dress down to take a look.

"Anne!" Zack exclaimed as he dropped his knife and quickly pulled Aerith's dress up "We do not do that to other women!"

Anne shrugged and looked up at Aerith who had slightly flushed cheeks now.

"And you…just feel different."

Anne shrugged and smiled.

"Thank you for buying me a pretty dress," she said and hugged her gratefully.

Aerith smiled and hugged her back.

"Aw, you're sweet," she commented and Anne hissed happily.

"Aerith may be a funny name but it sounds pretty," she chirruped "Because you're pretty."

"Aw, Anne you're pretty too," Aerith complimented back.

"Sephiroth says I'm cute because Anne's a cute name," Anne smiled.

"And you are cute, the cutest little…teenager I've had the pleasure in meeting."

"Now, Anne, we're cooking lunch," Zack said while Anne poked and prodded Aerith curiously with her tongue "Aren't you hungry?"

Anne froze when her stomach grumbled and pouted.

"Aw…"

Anne wasn't allowed in the kitchen while someone was cooking, not since she cut herself with one of Zack's knives then burnt her hand on something. Zack held up a new drawing pad and a new set of colouring pens which made her perk up happily.

"Why don't you go and draw Aerith some pretty pictures?" he suggested and Anne grabbed the utensils eagerly, throwing herself through the kitchen door and onto the sofa, scribbling away happily.

Aerith simpered as she heard the pens scratching against the paper and smiled at Zack.

"She's just so adorable," she squealed and filled the saucepan with water "I think she could be my little sister, what do you think?"

"If you're suggesting that you have a long forked tongue hidden in that mouth and suspicious looking blue spots on your thighs then yeah, I think you could be sisters," Zack grinned mischievously, making Aerith frown.

He sighed wistfully while picking up his knife and continued chopping the vegetables after giving it a quick rinse.

"Two weeks she's been here and I feel like she's _my _little sister," he murmured "I've always wanted one but we were always too poor to feed just the three of us."

"If you want, I could take her off your hands for a while," Aerith suggested.

"You're going to have to consult with Seph on that, he'll murder me if I let her out of this apartment without him knowing," Zack raised an eyebrow "And would your mum be alright with that?"

"Of course, I'm not entirely sure if she would mind Anne's…quirkiness but I'm sure she wouldn't mind looking after her," Aerith shrugged.

"Well, let me give you a head's up. She'll draw on anything that she can find, she can only consume liquids and she's been locked up in a lab since she was three so she's dead curious."

Aerith cooed softly.

"Aw, she's just like a child," she murmured "We should get married so we can adopt her."

Zack chuckled.

"Seph will not be happy," he warned.

"We can convince him," Aerith giggled.

As the couple laughed and joked further about married life, Anne scribbled a picture of her and Aerith holding hands. She winced, dropping her pen and rubbed her stomach tenderly.

"Zack!" she wailed "My stomach hurts!"

"You're probably just hungry!" Zack shouted and a bottle of ketchup was tossed out of the kitchen.

Anne snatched the bottle, ripped the cap off and began drinking eagerly. The cramps in her stomach ceased eventually but unbeknownst to Anne, they would come back very soon.


	8. Chapter 8

"What are you cooking?"

Zack jumped when Anne suddenly appeared by his shoulder. He placed a hand over his heart, breathing in and out slowly.

"I thought we had a rule about you being in the kitchen when someone is cooking?" he reminded her once he had caught his breath.

"But it smells funny," Anne argued and began sniffing around, discovering a familiar looking red bottle "Are you putting ketchup in?"

"That's not ketchup!"

Too late. Anne had stuck her tongue down the bottle on the counter and paused. She yelped, yanked her tongue out and patted it down, breathing in quickly and jumping up and down on the spot. Zack sighed as he picked the bottle up and grimaced.

"And I thought we had a rule about sticking your tongue in bottles that aren't yours," he sighed and Anne whined.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Chili sauce," Zack explained while showing her the label "See?"

"I can't read," Anne hissed maliciously.

"You can't see the difference between a tomato and a chili?" Zack raised an eyebrow while pointing to a picture of the chili on the label.

"They're both red and green!" Anne argued.

"Well they have a difference in flavours," Zack lectured her "And chilies are long while tomatoes are fat! Chilies are hot and spicy, that isn't good for your inexperienced taste."

Anne pouted sulkily (which unnervingly resembled Zack's puppy pout) with a whimper while she stroked her tongue softly before sticking it back into the bottle.

"I like it," she decided, taking the bottle away from Zack and began drinking.

Zack just stared at her in bewilderment.

"Well, at least I've put the chili sauce in before you decided to be unhygienic," he muttered under his breath and turned to his soup "Now remember what happened the last time someone was cooking near you?"

Anne pouted and perked up when the doorbell rang.

"Ah, that would be Cloud!" Zack abandoned his soup and ran out of the kitchen.

"Cloud…? What's a Cloud?" Anne stuck her head out of the kitchen, watching Zack approach the door.

Her eyes widened when she saw Zack open the door to an unfamiliar person and ran into the living room, diving behind the sofa. She spied Cloud warily, hissing warningly. Cloud jumped in alarm when he saw a pair of eerie glowing red eyes glaring at him, warning him to stay away.

"Z-Z-Zack, something got into your apartment!" he squeaked while holding a shaky pointed finger at Anne.

"Oh, that's just Anne," Zack grinned "She's a bit shy."

Cloud yelped when Anne hissed loudly and flickered her tongue out into the air. Anne kept her eyes trained on Cloud carefully while Zack sat him down on the armchair opposite the sofa.

"Well, the soup's nearly ready so why don't you pick a movie, Cloud?" Zack suggested cheerfully before entering the kitchen.

Cloud was petrified of moving a muscle when he caught another look of Anne's eyes that dared him to make a move. Anne wasn't sure if she liked this other person. He shook, his eyes were bright baby blue and that hair didn't look natural. Maybe he was a science experiment too? Cloud shook when Anne crawled over the sofa like some sort of creature and came up to him cautiously, her tongue flickering out and stroking his face carefully in thought.

"You taste normal," she commented and crawled onto the armrest of the armchair "But you don't look normal…"

Her hand slowly grabbed the biggest blonde spike on Cloud's head and gave it a sharp yank. Cloud shouted in pain which startled Anne, sending her diving back behind the sofa, eyes peeking above it. She was hissing angrily in agitation like a startled beast while Cloud nursed the sore patch on his head with a whine.

"Soup's up!" Zack abruptly came in with three bowls of soup.

Anne slowly crawled onto the sofa and sat the bowl in her lap, drinking through her tongue. Cloud watched in a somewhat fascinated manner while eating his soup. Zack chose the movie for them and sat in the other armchair as Anne was sprawled out on it. Anne was used to the TV at this point in time, it was rather comical before when Zack watched a new movie that had come out on DVD. She still had her quirks of shouting at the TV and hissing at anything she didn't like. Zack looked up at Cloud then looked at Anne and sighed at the tension between them.

"Hey, Cloud, could you get a bottle of ketchup please?" the brunet asked his blond friend "They'll be in the fridge door."

"OK, sure," Cloud frowned at the odd request but got up and went into the kitchen to fetch a bottle of ketchup as demanded.

When he brought it back, Zack told him to give it to Anne. Cloud swallowed and looked at Anne. Her glowing red eyes were staring into his, her tongue flickering out and beckoning for him to come closer if he dared. Cloud slowly went to one side of the sofa and held it out for her to take.

"I can't reach," Anne hissed.

Cloud swallowed and as he took one step closer, Anne grabbed his wrist and pulled him down onto the sofa. Cloud remained very, very still as Anne straddled him and began poking and prodding him with her tongue. Eventually she pulled away and took the bottle of ketchup away from his hand.

"You're not too bad but I'm keeping my eye on you," she warned.

As she got off Cloud, the cadet lunged for his armchair and huddled up, staring at the TV screen. Anne sniffed and began drinking the ketchup while Zack began wondering what the cause could be behind her progressive change of behaviour. He had never penned Anne down as a diva and now here she was suddenly moody and snooty. Maybe it was a seasonal thing? Maybe he could ask Sephiroth once he came back from his mission.


	9. Chapter 9

Anne hummed as she used her tongue to draw in a new sketchpad that Zack had gotten her. The coffee table had two piles of sketchpads, one were the ones that were full and used, the other were the ones that were empty and ready to be filled up. Anne felt her hand cramps go away so grabbed two other pencils and began drawing with them at the same time as her tongue. She paused every so now and then with her tongue to dip it into a bottle of ketchup next to her and drink. She tapped her foot rhythmically with her hums.

With her right hand she was scribbling yellow spikes for Cloud's hair. With her left hand she was scribbling messy black hair for Zack. With her tongue she was drawing neat brown hair for Aerith who was in the middle of the picture. She frequently swapped colouring pencils back and forth to colour in their skins and clothes. She paused when she heard Zack's snoring from the bedroom and giggled softly. She couldn't sleep so she was drawing to see if she would fall asleep on the sofa. Zack's snoring was funny and sometimes he talked about Aerith in his sleep. Anne wondered if he could actually communicate to Aerith through dreams. That would be a great ability to have, she'd talk to Sephiroth every night to say how much she missed him. She hadn't seen him for a long time now…

Anne perked up expectantly when she heard the door click open. Her eyes widened and she dropped her pencils when she saw Sephiroth's familiar black boots.

"Sephiroth!" she cried out and jumped off the sofa and began running towards Sephiroth.

She smiled widely when she saw Sephiroth's pleasantly surprised face but suddenly she felt woozy. As soon as her foot made contact with Zack's red carpet, everything became blurry and felt heavy. Her ears were screaming, her eyes were spinning, her head was thumping, her breasts were aching and her stomach was flaring painfully. Sephiroth's eyes widened in alarm as he saw Anne falling forwards and ran up to her, catching her just in time before she fell heavily on the floor. He began panicking when he saw her flushed cheeks and how quickly she was breathing, as if she was drowning.

"ZACK!"

Sephiroth heard a dull thud and Zack ran into the living room.

"What is it? What's wrong? Did someone die?" he asked, a bit disorientated from the sudden wake up call.

"Anne's sick, has she been like this before?" Sephiroth asked as he pressed a hand to Anne's forehead.

Zack's eyes widened when he saw Anne's state and shook his head.

"No, this is the first time I've seen her like this," he replied "What happened?"

"She just fell and now she's running a high fever," Sephiroth cupped Anne's cheek and his breathing quickened with the panic that was building up.

"Now calm down, Seph," Zack said as they picked Anne up and placed her onto the sofa "Maybe this is a routine monthly thing like all normal woman have?"

"No, she was never like this when she hit puberty," Sephiroth muttered "She had a normal period like other women except…"

"Yeah, I don't want to know," Zack cut in "Then maybe she just caught something off my friends…"

"Your friends have seen her?" Sephiroth went deadly silent and glared at Zack.

"Well yeah, I've had a couple of friends round," Zack shrugged.

"Have you considered the consequences at all?" Sephiroth began raising his voice.

"Um…Anne would have more friends?" Zack stepped back warily.

"She could have picked up something from them that could be lethal to her!" Sephiroth roared "And supposing they went around Midgar talking about her?"

"They wouldn't have done that…" Zack whined "And you entrusted her to me…"

"Because you're in SOLDIER and you have Mako in your system," Sephiroth sighed tiredly "Anne's body has been pumped up with Mako and other alien cells so she would have been fine around you."

"Well…what do we do now?"

Sephiroth sighed and squeezed Anne's hand tightly, biting his lip.

"Hojo will know what to do," he said reluctantly.

"Oh, no, Seph! What if he does something else weird to her?"

"He'll know what to do and I'll personally make sure he doesn't do anything to her," Sephiroth said as he picked Anne up gently "I'll come back later."

He ran out of the apartment, leaving Zack to pace around in agitation.

* * *

"So, you've finally decided to return her to me, eh?" Hojo chuckled as he adjusted his glasses whilst Sephiroth lay Anne down on the operating table.

"I'm not returning anything," Sephiroth growled as he kept a firm hold on Anne's hand "Just see what's wrong with her."

Hojo muttered something under his breath and began turning machines on and scanning Anne as she slept uncomfortably. Data appeared on the screen as Hojo typed in commands into the main computer. Sephiroth tapped his foot restlessly while squeezing Anne's hand and focusing on her face as she moaned and groaned in pain.

"Foolish boy," Hojo said after about half an hour of scanning and reading computer screens "She's perfectly fine. It's a routine thing that happens to the body to get her ready for the coming children."

Sephiroth breathed in sharply and stared at Hojo in disbelief.

"Anne's pregnant?" he whispered.

"Subject Jenova A is pregnant with ten eggs," Hojo said as he wrote notes down on his clipboard "They'll be perfect for experimentation…"

"No," Sephiroth said sharply as he stepped forward to intimidate the smaller man "You are not running experiments on Anne's children."

"And why should I not?" Hojo asked, not intimidated at all.

"They're my children, I won't let them grow up the same way I did," Sephiroth snarled.

"Well they're my grandchildren, I only wish to run a few harmless experiments," Hojo said dismissively.

"I won't allow it!" Sephiroth shouted.

Silence fell over them and Hojo scribbled something else down.

"Well then, I insist to have Subject Jenova A kept here for observation," he proposed and turned to Sephiroth "After she gives birth to the children, I'll leave you and your children alone, aside from the annual check-ups."

Sephiroth gritted his teeth.

"Anne won't be happy," he muttered.

"She'll be under observation so any worrying signs will be dealt with quickly. It's only for eight months, Sephiroth. Maybe less."

Sephiroth looked down at Anne and ran his hand down her face.

"She'll be taken care of?"

"Yes."

"You won't try anything funny with her?"

"My dear boy, I only wish to observe her behaviour now that she is pregnant," Hojo said dismissively "I do not wish to harm her at all or the children may die."

Sephiroth took a deep breath and sighed.

"Alright, just let her sleep in our room."

A wicked smirk spread across Hojo's face and with a malevolent glint of his glasses he chuckled maliciously.

"Excellent," he said as Sephiroth picked Anne up and took her to their bedroom.


	10. Chapter 10

The next six months were the most painful months Anne had ever gone through. Sephiroth felt utterly helpless whenever she woke up and began crying in pain because every muscle in her body ached. She always felt drained and weak every day and Sephiroth demanded that Hojo should do something to improve her health or at least take the pain away. The greasy haired scientist rejected him harshly, saying that it was a normal process for Anne's body to go through when she carries children. But Sephiroth knew that it wasn't normal, he could feel it. Anne's eyes had never looked so scared and it hurt him. Sephiroth hadn't felt so weak and helpless in all of his life.

Anne kept whispering to him to take the pain away when they slept together. She begged for him to make everything stop, she was in so much pain and she didn't like it. She wanted to go back to Zack's apartment and keep drawing like she enjoyed doing since she was a little girl. But Sephiroth was worried what would happen if she left Hojo's observation. What if she miscarried the babies? That would have made her so distraught. Sephiroth didn't want to make her upset but he was torn. She had cried and cried every day, she began throwing up liquids so the scientists put her on a drip again. Sephiroth could only hold her and whisper that everything would be over soon.

It was in the middle of the night after six months that Sephiroth's worst nightmares came to reality. He woke up when Anne screamed louder than usual and began clawing at him, screaming for him to make the pain stop. He felt the bed go wet and threw the covers off to see that her water had broken and she was also bleeding heavily. He rushed her into the medical centre where scientists bustled around frantically, hooking her to machines and spreading her legs to get ready for the birth. Sephiroth held Anne's hand tightly as she screamed and screamed, breathing heavily and crying out for relief from the pain. Sephiroth could only hold onto her hand and soothe her as light blue eggs began coming out of her vagina.

"It's alright, it's alright," was all he could say to Anne as she gripped the metal bed and screamed "Look, five eggs, you're halfway there…"

Anne watched as the scientist took the fifth egg away and placed it on the counter. Sephiroth smiled and squeezed her hand softly.

"Sephiroth…" she whimpered as the sixth egg began coming out "Sephiroth, I'm so tired…"

"You can do it, the sixth one is almost out," Sephiroth hushed her and kissed her forehead.

"No, Sephiroth…" Anne whimpered and shook her head "I can't, I can't take it any more…"

"Yes you can, Anne, you're a strong girl," Sephiroth encouraged her.

"Everything's going dark…" Anne gasped as her breathing began to slow down "Sephiroth, I'm scared…I'm scared!"

"Ssh…everything will be alright, Anne, I'll make sure nothing happens to you…" Sephiroth whispered and kissed her lips softly.

"I feel…so…cold…" Anne croaked and Sephiroth's eyes widened.

"No, Anne, you can pull through," he said as he squeezed her hand urgently "You can do this, Anne, I know you can…"

"Sephiroth…" Anne's tongue slowly flickered out and gently stroked his cheek "I…love you…"

"Anne?" Sephiroth blinked and shook his head "Anne, I love you too, don't leave me…"

"Thank you…for everything…"

"Anne!"

Sephiroth's heart lurched when he heard the low beep to indicate that Anne's heart had stopped. Her hand went limp in Sephiroth's and her tongue fell. Anne's eyes slowly closed and her whole body stopped functioning. Sephiroth felt his body shake as a scientist took the sixth egg away from.

"Oh dear, another failure," Hojo sighed "Still, we have the children. Cut her open so we can get the rest of the eggs."

Sephiroth didn't hear anyone anymore, he just stood there, his eyes glued to Anne's face. He closed his eyes and let the tears fall.

"Anne…" he whispered "Anne, no…Anne!"

He let out a cry of agony and turned on his heel to lunge for Hojo's neck. Scientists held him back as he tried to grab at Hojo, crush his skull and send him to the fiery pits of hell.

"You killed her!" he shouted "You said you'll take care of her!"

"I did what I could," Hojo said simply as other scientists cut Anne's womb open to take out the other four eggs "I didn't kill her. I suppose the subject was too young to be impregnated and the pregnancy put a lot of stress on her body. The next subject will be older."

"No!" Sephiroth roared as he tried to get the scientists restraining him off "There won't be a next subject!"

"Take him to the adjacent room to sedate him," Hojo waved Sephiroth away and Sephiroth was dragged into the next room to be injected with sedatives.

* * *

When Sephiroth woke up, he was still in the labs. Anne's body had just been discarded like any other subject to be burned so there was no way he could have given her a proper burial where Zack and his friends would have said goodbye to her. He was glad to find that the eggs were unscathed and had the urge to stroke them. He stroked the first one and felt tapping underneath the egg shell. His heart pulsed and he slowly dug a finger in and peeled the egg shell off to reveal a small baby boy with a layer of silver hair and bright red eyes like his mother. Sephiroth smiled warmly and cradled him, cleaning the egg goo off him as he did so because it just felt right. The boy was immediately taken away from him afterwards and Sephiroth was allowed to name the children including the boy.

The first son was Seito. The next two eggs had two baby girls with bright red eyes like their mother. Sephiroth named them Melody and Harmony. The next two sons were named Dune and Robin. Sephiroth smiled when he came to the next egg. His eyes widened in horror when he discovered that it and the next three eggs only had dead embryos inside. His eyes filled with tears again and remembered that Anne had gone into labour early. His heart sank when he reached the last egg and there was little movement from it. His eyes did light up hopefully when he peeled the top layer of the egg off and saw a tiny arm moving around.

He peeled more of the egg off and smiled when he saw the little girl's face. She yawned softly and a long forked tongue flickered out. Her eyes were red like her mother's and Sephiroth decided that this little girl reminded him the most about Anne. But as he peeled off the rest of the egg and picked up the little girl she began wailing. Sephiroth frowned, none of the other children had cried. Then he realised that her left leg was all shrivelled up and black and grimaced sympathetically.

"Hm, you can get rid of that one," Hojo muttered as he saw the deformed leg and Sephiroth's eyes widened.

"No!" he said and cradled the baby close, backing away "No, I won't let you kill her."

"Sephiroth, she's useless. She won't be able to walk."

"Well I'll take care of her myself then," Sephiroth growled "We can amputate her deformed leg and she'll just grow up without having anything to do with SOLDIER."

"Sephiroth, it'll only be a waste of time and supposing her future children will turn out the same as her?"

"I don't care, she's still my daughter."

"And she's my granddaughter too."

"That doesn't mean that you can decide whether she can live or not! I'm going to take care of her and I'll take a year of paternity leave to do that."

"Sephiroth, you are making a grave mistake."

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed at Hojo in contempt.

"You made the grave mistake of killing Anne."


	11. Chapter 11

"Bianca, I'm leaving for work," Sephiroth said as he pulled his coat on "Would you like me to take you to Zack's office?"

"Yes please!" a ten year old girl who was sitting by her desk perked up and flickered her tongue out happily at him.

She gathered up the work on her desk and placed the papers neatly into a folder. She put it on her lap and pushed herself in her wheelchair away from the desk and wheeled over to her father who took the handles behind her and pushed her out of the apartment. Sephiroth smiled at her and kissed the top of her head.

"I'll be passing by your brothers and sisters, do you want to stop by and say hi?"

"Yes, of course!" Bianca's eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly.

Sephiroth chuckled as he pushed her to the elevators. Bianca was nearly like her mother in personality. He had been considering naming her Anne like her mother but Sephiroth decided against it, Bianca wasn't Anne's replacement. He spent a year off work looking after her after she was born with Zack's girlfriend's assistance. Despite Hojo declaring that Bianca would be useless to SOLDIER, Bianca was actually a very bright and logical young woman. Sephiroth noticed her talents when she was about four years old. He had taken her to his office where he could keep an eye on her and she was sitting on his lap when he was figuring out a dilemma that the army in Wutai were having concerning the war. At first he thought it was a fluke when she pointed out the solution to him but it happened again and again that Sephiroth insisted that she took private lessons on strategy.

"Bianca!"

"Seito!"

Sephiroth was broken out of his daydream as Seito ran up and hugged Bianca gently when they reached one of the office floors. Bianca hugged back happily and sighed.

"I had a weird dream again," she giggled "You were in it and you were killing Auntie Aerith!"

"I would never kill Auntie Aerith!" Seito frowned.

"Or maybe it was Daddy?"

Sephiroth blinked as both of them looked up at him curiously and he shrugged helplessly.

"I have no reason to kill Aerith," he said simply "Shouldn't you be getting ready for your classes, young man?"

Seito grinned sheepishly.

"Seito…"

"Aw, Dad, come on! I have Materia theory next and it's so boring!"

"It'll help you when you get onto the battlefield," Sephiroth said and ushered him away.

"Bye, Bianca!"

"Bye, Seito!"

Sephiroth smiled softly and continued wheeling Bianca over to Zack's office. Bianca had bonded with Seito quite quickly and he was happy that she had someone close to her apart from him. Seito reminded Sephiroth of himself when he was a young boy. Seito's silver hair was growing out just like his and he was learning to use Masamune. His performance in using Materia was rather poor though but that was the only disappointment Sephiroth had with his eldest son. Bianca began reading through her papers as they stopped by another elevator to take to Zack's floor. Sephiroth smiled as Melody and Harmony appeared in their elevator.

"Bianca! Daddy!"

Bianca looked up as Melody hugged her and Harmony jumped into Sephiroth's arms. Sephiroth chuckled and hugged Harmony back.

"Where are you two off to?" he asked while ruffling Harmony's hair.

"Uncle Angeal is going to train us in the training room," Melody replied as she let go of Bianca "We're going to beat him this time!"

"Really now?" Sephiroth raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Just you wait and see, Uncle Angeal will have to retire early because of us!" Harmony declared and Sephiroth chuckled as he pushed Bianca into the elevator.

"I don't like Uncle Angeal," Bianca murmured shyly as she ran small circles around her only leg "He's big and scary…"

"He won't hurt you, Bianca," Sephiroth assured her and rubbed her shoulder soothingly.

Her sisters snickered as they waited for the elevator to reach their floor. Melody and Harmony were always together, they wouldn't want to be apart ever. They always fought together perfectly in sync. Both of them wanted to be like Seito and wield Masamune. They both had their strengths and weaknesses, for example, Melody was more efficient attacking her opponent whilst Harmony was more efficient in defending. The girls were like yin and yang, they contrasted one another but couldn't be without each other. The elevator stopped and Sephiroth wheeled Bianca out, saying goodbye to the girls. Bianca continued shuffling through her papers and gasped when she heard a gunshot. Sephiroth whipped out Masamune on instinct and charged forward to the shooter.

"Woah, Dad!"

Sephiroth pinned Dune to the wall and growled.

"Don't do that, Dune or I might hurt you next time," he snarled and Dune chuckled nervously.

"Relax, Dad, I was just joking…" he said and Sephiroth rolled his eyes, sheathing Masamune.

"Please, don't do that again," Bianca squeaked as she just sat in her wheelchair, clutching her papers in fright.

"Aw, Bianca, did I scare you?" Dune smirked and went over to hug his little sister "Don't worry, Dune's here…"

Sephiroth sighed heavily through his nose. Dune was a handful. He insisted that he wanted to learn how to use a gun and now he keeps on using it to show off how accurate he was by nearly killing people. He was also so flamboyant and adopted a gay accent. Sephiroth just thought that Dune had just been hanging around Genesis too much. Sephiroth swatted Dune over the ear for his insolence and sent him off to his Materia practical class. Bianca slowly calmed down as they reached Zack's office and Sephiroth opened it to see his final son, Robin.

"Seriously, I would say pick on someone your own size but they're all bigger than you!" Zack said exhaustedly as Robin sat on the chair in front of his desk sulkily "You're only ten for crying out loud, why are you picking on the older cadets?"

"They pick on other cadets," Robin huffed moodily.

"Yes but they don't go and stick tacks in their underwear do they?" Zack raised an eyebrow "Then start a fight in the showers."

"They provoked me," Robin scowled.

"You need to learn to control your anger," Zack sighed and rested his head on his desk "Just go to your next class."

Robin grunted and when he turned he paled when he saw Sephiroth towering over him.

"Come to my office during your lunch break," he said icily and Robin nodded hastily, running out of Zack's office.

Robin was a handful too. He seemed rather rebellious and rude, always picking fights and getting into trouble. He was learning how to use a crossbow because he fell out with the gun teacher and the sword teacher. He had a soft spot for Bianca but Sephiroth never seemed to have that father bond with Robin. Bianca waved to Robin as he passed and smiled at Zack.

"Uncle Zack!" she cried and Zack lifted his head.

"Bianca?" he muttered and looked up "Oh, hi, Seph."

"I'm going to work now, Bianca would like to stay with you."

"Alright," Zack yawned and Sephiroth planted a kiss on Bianca's head, whispering goodbye.

Zack flipped open his PHS when Sephiroth left and raised an eyebrow when he saw that he had received some missed calls from Aerith.

"Right, Bianca, I'm going down to see Aerith," Zack said and pushed himself up "Why don't you help yourself to a book from the bookshelf and I'll be back within an hour."

Bianca watched as he left the office and smiled when she saw the paperwork piled on Zack's desk. She loved doing paperwork. Knowing Zack didn't like paperwork, she wheeled herself over to his desk and began working her way through the piles of paper.


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey, Aerith," Zack smiled sheepishly as he came inside the church "Sorry I'm a bit late, Robin got into trouble again…"

"Ssh!" Aerith hushed him quickly and continued praying in the middle of her patch of flowers.

Zack froze and sat down on one of the pews awkwardly, watching her pray. Aerith's brow furrowed and she sighed, leaning back.

"It's no good, I lost her again," she said disappointedly "Seventeenth time this week, it's so frustrating…"

"Lost who?" Zack tilted his head to the side "Are you trying to contact someone through the Lifestream or something?"

"Oh, Zack," Aerith sighed as she turned to him "I'm worried. Just last week after the children's birthday, I heard a cry of help from the Lifestream."

"A cry?" Zack frowned.

Aerith nodded and shook her head despairingly.

"Every day I've been trying to contact her but it's so hard to find her now! I can sense a disturbance within the Lifestream and Gaia sounds so angry."

"What kind of disturbance?"

"Like…like there's something in the Lifestream that shouldn't be there. And whatever it is, it's crying for help because she's in pain and she wants to go home."

"Has anything like this ever happened before?"

Aerith shook her head.

"I'm worried, Zack."

"Well why don't you try and contact her now?" Zack shrugged "I know you must be tired but you must try your best. I'll be here supporting you so don't worry about failing or anything. And if it doesn't work, we'll just try again some other day."

Aerith sighed tiredly but laced her hands together again and began praying. Zack watched anxiously as her facial changes ranged from worried to pain and she suddenly collapsed.

* * *

Aerith took steady breaths as she found herself floating through the Lifestream, her mind on the one cry that she had heard a week ago. She felt herself float faster through the Lifestream and she began hearing the cries again.

"Help me! Zack, help me!"

_"Please someone help me! Anybody! Cloud! Aerith!"_

**"It hurts! I want my Mommy!"**

**_"I want to go home! Sephiroth!"_**

Aerith gasped as she saw a small blackened figure floating in the Lifestream, curled up into a tight ball.

"Hello?" she called and reached out to touch the figure.

She gasped and retracted her hand back when the figure snapped her head up and Aerith saw blinding red eyes.

"Aerith!"

_"Aerith, save me!"_

**"I'm so scared!"**

**_"Take me home!"_**

"Anne?" Aerith softly spoke and gasped when Anne lunged for her and hugged her tightly.

Anne's whole body was black and she felt so cold. She gasped in pain as she felt the searing burning through Anne's core but the deadly cold prison that encircled it. She felt the contractions she had gone through when she was giving birth. She felt the sensation of her heart being twisted and torn apart as she gave up her life force to give birth to the children. She felt the painful cramps through her stomach as Anne's womb had demanded more space for the eggs to grow and develop in. She felt the terror that had gone through Anne's mind when Anne thought that she was going to die soon. Aerith's body was wracked with pain, the same pain Anne had to go through when she was pregnant.

"Aerith, where am I?"

_"I don't like this place!"_

**"I don't belong here!"**

**_"Save me!"_**

"How? How do I save you?" Aerith asked as she slowly raised a hand to cup Anne's cheek to offer some comfort.

"I don't know!"

_"WEAPON."_

**"Opportunity."**

**_"Contact Gaia."_**

"Anne, I can't understand you, I keep hearing so many different voices with yours!"

Anne's image flickered and her eyes widened when her body evaporated out of Aerith's grip. Aerith's eyes widened in panic as she tried to grab Anne again but failed.

"Anne! Anne, where did you go?"

_"Humans are a threat."_

**"Kill the main threat."**

**_"Use the WEAPON humans gave the Lifestream to kill them all."_**

Aerith was thrown out of the Lifestream immediately after she heard the voices.

* * *

Aerith gasped and sat up when she woke abruptly.

"Hey, Aerith, are you alright?" Zack asked as he saw Aerith wake.

"It was Anne!" Aerith gasped and looked to Zack "Anne was crying for help. The Lifestream wasn't happy with her joining because of what Hojo did to her!"

"The bastard!" Zack growled and jumped to his feet "So what happened?"

"I have no idea…" Aerith regained her breath "Zack…I need a rest…"

Zack caught her as she fell whilst blacking out.

* * *

Overgrown black nails dug into the wall for support, leaving a trail of claw marks into it, as tired light green legs feebly walked towards the playground where the children normally played in. One girl with a cute pink ribbon in her mousy brown hair, pointed the creature out immediately and the children ran away, screaming in fright. The creature was breathing heavily and trying to keep its bright red eyes open. The head, decorated with a small black heart shaped tiara against the creature's long white hair, lifted at the sound of footsteps running towards it. The creature collapsed with exhaustion and heard a gun click. Instinctively the creature curled its large torn black wings around its naked body.

"Don't shoot," it croaked tiredly "Please don't shoot. Help me…I'm so tired…help me…please…I feel so weak…"

Everyone gasped in horror as a long red cylindrical tongue came out and flicked about as it talked. Its bright red eyes closed and the creature went limp but it still breathed. One man dared to go closer and touch its wings.

"Let's help it," he decided "It's perfectly harmless now and it isn't right to just hurt it now."

"Right but we need to lock it up in case it tries to hurt us!"

"What if it doesn't want to hurt us?"

"We can't take that chance."

Barret, Wedge and Biggs circled the creature and picked it up, carrying it over to Sector Seven where Seventh Heaven was.


	13. Chapter 13

Tifa watched as the creature slept in the small cage that they had underneath Seventh Heaven. She tilted her head as she saw how peacefully the creature slept and its movements within its confined space. She hadn't seen anything like it. The body was an unusual colour and the creature looked rather human underneath the monstrous features. Also, Tifa thought it looked like a human girl. There was no ominous or threatening aura around it either, but Barret was convinced that the creature was dangerous. Shaking her head with a sad sigh, Tifa went up to the bar to clean it.

* * *

Sephiroth returned to Zack's office in the late afternoon to find Bianca dealing with all of Zack's work. He cleared his throat sharply and Bianca lifted her head, smiling at him warmly.

"Hello, Daddy!" she greeted and wheeled herself over to him.

"Bianca, what did I tell you about doing Uncle Zack's paperwork for him?" Sephiroth asked tiredly.

"But Uncle Zack was having a date with Aerith and I wanted to help him…" Bianca pouted and Sephiroth chuckled, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Uncle Zack is taking advantage of you," Sephiroth said while ruffling Bianca's hair "That is bad. Uncle Zack must learn to take care of his own work."

Bianca huffed as she neatened Zack's desk up before Sephiroth took her wheelchair and began wheeling her out of the office. Bianca suddenly gasped and gripped the armrest of her wheelchair whilst gripping her heart.

"Bianca, what's wrong?" Sephiroth asked as he crouched down to her level.

Bianca took steady breaths and sighed, shaking her head.

"Nothing," she replied and smiled at her father "I think something I ate earlier went down the wrong way but it fixed itself. Nothing to worry about."

Sephiroth sighed and hugged Bianca close. Everyone said that he was too overprotective over Bianca but he was just too scared to lose someone else. Also, if Bianca died, he felt as if he failed Anne. Bianca was so much like Anne, he didn't want to lose her the same way he lost Anne. As he laid his head on Bianca's lap, he closed his eyes when Bianca stroked his hair gently.

* * *

Katie perked up as the creature in the cage stirred. It propped itself up on one elbow, its bright red eyes blinking open. It looked around curiously, hissing softly. It got up and placed a hand on the bars silently. Katie saw its overgrown black nails tapping the metal patiently and its tongue flicker out to taste the air.

"Who are you?" it asked her and Katie straightened.

"My name's Katie," she replied "Wow, you can talk?"

"Yes, I can," the creature frowned as if insulted and looked around "Where is this?"

"Oh, we're underneath Seventh Heaven," Katie replied quickly and looked around "It's a bit of a mess but it gives us shelter."

"Seventh…Heaven?" the creature looked around "Am I dead then?"

Katie blinked and shook her head.

"No, Seventh Heaven is the name of the bar," she smiled.

"Bar?"

The creature looked around and then leaned its forehead on the metal bars with a sigh.

"So, what do you call yourself?" Katie asked as she found the silence awkward.

"Mmm?" the creature looked up at her "Anne. My friends call me Anne therefore I call myself Anne."

Katie felt taken aback. Despite the grotesque appearance of her body, the creature sounded just as human was her face looked.

"Anne?" she echoed "Just Anne?"

"Yes," the creature frowned "Why does it surprise you?"

"Wait, so you're not called anything else? Like, I don't know, a Chaosbringer or something?"

"Before I was named Subject Jenova A," the creature now known as Anne replied "Nothing else."

"Well, not meaning to be rude, but what's your species?" Katie grimaced.

"I was born a human," Anne replied and Katie sighed.

"Anne, I'm sorry to tell you," she said slowly "But you're not human."

"I'm aware I don't look human," Anne snapped with an angry hiss, clenching on the bars "But I was still born one and nothing can change that!"

It let go of the bars and Katie's eyes widened when she saw it had left dents. Heck, if Anne squeezed just a little bit tighter, it would have crushed them like paper.

"Um…just one minute!" she said as she ran up to the lift and went up to Seventh Heaven.

The guys were huddled around a table, mumbling over some blueprints to the next reactor they were going to blow up. Tifa was listening to Marlene talking while cleaning up glasses by the bar. Katie cleared her throat.

"Um…it woke up," she announced and everyone looked up "It's called itself Anne and it thinks it's human."

Everyone looked at each other before rushing to the lift to go down to see the creature. It was unfolding and folding its wings curiously, unfolding them to run a clawed hand down it then folding them to make sure they didn't get damaged by the little space in the cage. It looked up at them and sighed.

"Why am I here?" it asked.

"You were a threat to society so we locked ya up," Barret grunted with folded arms.

"I don't want to hurt anyone," it said softly.

"Yeah right!"

Anne gasped in fright as Barret slammed a fist against the bars.

"What are you doing here and what do you want?!" he interrogated as he ignored the way its eyes brimmed themselves with tears.

"I…I…"

Anne covered its face and began crying. Tifa pulled a sympathetic face and led Barret away.

"Let me talk to her," she said and approached the cage "Hey, hey, don't cry."

"I'm scared," Anne cried as she looked up at Tifa "I just want to find my friends and have things go back to normal…"

"There, there," Tifa opened the cage up and stepped in "Why, you're not a monster at all."

Anne sniffed and carefully poked Tifa's face with her tongue. Tifa smiled and let herself be prodded and poked until Anne sought comfort in her arms. Tifa hugged her, flinching from how cold she was, and rubbed her back. Tifa was used to Anne's cold body temperature from living in Nibelheim.

"Come on, let me show you my friends," she said and carefully led Anne out to Barret who held his gun at the ready.

Anne shivered as she looked at the massive shiny gun but Tifa kept dragging her over to him and slowly placed Anne's hand on Barret's arm. Anne squeaked in terror as Barret let out a terrifying howl.

"Sweet fucking Shiva!" he yelled and leapt back, nearly squashing Biggs and Katie "Why is she so damn cold?!"

Anne hid behind Tifa and quaked at Barret's booming voice. Tifa petted her head soothingly as Barret rubbed his arm to get it warm.

"So…welcome to the family," she grinned at Anne.


	14. Chapter 14

"Hurry up, Anne!" Tifa called and Anne chased after the AVALANCHE members in a panic, her wings beating furiously.

Tifa grabbed Anne's hand and began leading her the way but Anne ended up dragging her after Barret. The reactor behind them exploded and Anne's wings relaxed as she landed on the floor with her bare feet. She folded them around her body to keep the boys comfortable, Tifa was still sorting out clothes for her. Tifa panted as the team decided to split up. She still clenched onto Anne's hand and led her to the upper plate where everyone was in a panic after hearing the explosion. Tifa bumped into a young girl with a pink dress and fell over.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she apologized and Anne's eyes lit up.

"Aerith!" she cried happily.

Aerith looked at her with a kind smile.

"I'm sorry, but have we met before?" she asked whilst adjusting her hair.

"No, sorry but we're in a rush!" Tifa said and dragged Anne off before anyone could spot them.

Anne reached a hand out toward Aerith with a hurt look but she disappeared quickly into the crowd with her basket of flowers. Tifa dragged them into an alleyway and panted for breath.

"That was a close one," she said as Anne tried to look for Aerith again "You mustn't linger around in public for long, Anne. Not everyone will be kind as that woman."

"But…Aerith…I…"

Anne was lost for words as Tifa led her to the train where they would meet up with the others. A lot of people in the train car ran off when Barret entered but everyone really panicked and left when they took one look at Anne who was still getting used to the trains. She sat on one of the seats and fiddled with her overgrown nails curiously. Barret kept a close eye on her as she began tapping them on one another and flickered her tongue out to draw shapes in the air. She clenched her fists and pulled a frustrated face.

"What's the matter with you?" he asked, making her jump.

Anne stared at him momentarily before looking down at her hands again.

"I enjoy drawing," she said "I haven't done any drawing for a long time. I miss it."

Barret grunted while Katie sat next to her.

"You can draw?" she said.

"When I was a little girl, I would draw on walls. I would draw on ceilings. I would draw on my soft white clothes. I would draw on paper."

Anne looked sad and bowed her head.

"I would draw…for Zack."

* * *

"Uncle Zack!" Bianca whined and tugged at Zack's sleeves "Please let me go and see the wrecked reactor!"

"No," Zack shook his head and petted Bianca's head "Daddy doesn't want you to go down to such a dangerous place."

But Bianca never takes no as an answer. So she stuck her bottom lip out and tears formed in her eyes.

"Now, Bianca…" Zack recognized the signs "Daddy will be angry at me…"

Now came the widening of the eyes.

"No, please, Bianca, don't look like that…"

And now, the delicate procedure of…

"Please?" Bianca whimpered while flickering her tongue out.

Zack was paralysed at the pitiful sight and it didn't really help that Bianca was deliberately mimicking her mother's voice (though it will forever be a mystery to how Bianca actually discovered how her mother sounded like) and he broke down.

"OK!" he cried "I will!"

"Yay!"

* * *

"First Class SOLDIER Zack Fair," Sephiroth growled as Bianca was wheeled around the site by Cloud to take a good look at the remains of the reactor "What have I told you about bringing my disabled daughter out of the Shinra Building without my permission?"

Zack swallowed guiltily as Bianca sniggered to herself. Bianca sighed and blinked when she saw a wounded Third Class SOLDIER being brought out on the stretcher.

"Could you wait for a moment please?" she asked politely to the medics and Cloud wheeled her over.

Bianca slowly placed a hand on the SOLDIER's shoulder and frowned. He had three peculiar wounds on his cheek.

"What are these scratches from?" she asked to the medics and they shrugged.

"Ugh…a monster…" the SOLDIER croaked and twitched "Don't let her get me! Her eyes! Her eyes!"

Bianca withdrew her hand with a gasp and he was carried off into the ambulance. Bianca looked around inside the reactor where there were more injured SOLDIERs being looked after.

"I want to get a good look at them," she said to Cloud and Cloud shifted.

"Are you sure you'd want to?" he asked.

"Why, are you squeamish, Cloud?" Bianca winked and Cloud shook his head, wheeling her over to the wounded.

* * *

Tifa frowned as she watched Anne draw a picture of four people. One was the girl they had ran into, the other was a different man with black spiky hair, one was Sephiroth but that wasn't what had Tifa surprised. Anne had drawn Cloud amongst the people. She recognized him, blonde spiky hair and blue eyes. Anne looked at her and smiled.

"I would draw for them," she said "Aerith, Zack, Cloud and Sephiroth."

"How do you know Cloud?" Tifa asked.

"He's Zack's friend and Zack's friends are my friends," Anne smiled "Cloud's funny. He gets scared so easily."

"Wait, you knew Sephiroth personally?" Katie asked as she looked at the picture.

"Do you know him?" Anne looked hopeful.

"Well, yeah, who doesn't?" Wedge shrugged "He's General Sephiroth, a hero."

"Can I see him?" Anne got up from her chair hopefully.

"What are you, nuts?" Barret snapped "He'll kill you if he sees you!"

"But…but…" Anne stuttered.

"Forget it, no-one will ever look at you as a human," Biggs shrugged "You have to look like a human to be treated like one."

Anne looked crestfallen as she sat back down and looked at the drawing sadly.

"But…he…I…"

Anne didn't know what to think so said nothing. Tifa did notice the tear streaking down her face as she coloured in Sephiroth's eyes a bit more.


End file.
